Does this sound familiar? You are rushing down the road, glancing at the clock every 15 seconds, and feeling sick to your stomach about the fact that it's 15 minutes past the time you HAD to be somewhere. You ask yourself while using profanities: "Why am I always late?!? Well now's your chance, just a few minutes away.

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Steps

1

Decide that you really want to stop being "that person who's always late" and that you really want to improve the social/economic aspects of your life that suffer from your inability to be early. First you must decide, and this is where you fully commit, that you really want to be early. Not that it would be nice if you were an early person, but that YOU want to be actively engaged in becoming a person who is always early. You can be that person.

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2

Decide how early you would like to be, normally 5 minutes is a good time for when you have a good habit at being early. For starters try a number more like 15 or even 20 minutes to allow yourself time for learning your new habits. (Remember you have established your habit of being late over years, even possibly learned it as a child from habitually late parents, it will take effort to correct this behavior.)

3

Get your alarm clock and put it in the position where you will look often while getting ready to leave. Some examples would be on the kitchen counter if you are late often from being in the kitchen, the bedroom if you are late often because of not getting ready on time. This clock is going to be your stimulus. You want this clock to become a part of your daily routine.

4

Set this clock 10-15 minutes ahead of the actual time. Although you know the clock is fast try to refrain from thinking of it as the "wrong time" think of it as the time that it is for you. This is the right time, if you want to change your habits.

5

If you have children or other people who depend on you in the morning this is where you have to bring your best attitude. If your children have a problem getting ready on time you must set strict guidelines, not only on what time they wake up and get ready, but also on the time they go to bed. No one wants to deal with a child in the morning when he/she has not had enough sleep the night before. Now setting a new inflexible schedule for your loved ones is not an easy task and this is where you need to bring your best attitude. Instead of being controlling and trying to force them, instead make them a part, tell your partner how much you appreciate them and how much you appreciate how they are going to help you with this. It's a psychological fact that you get more ants with honey than you do trying to beat them into submission. You want to get everyone to buy-in. If you're a parent your kids are learning your bad habits from you while they are young, when they become teenagers and are constantly late to class, remember it was you who taught them this habit.

6

When you know you have to be someplace on time, imagine quickly what you have to do to get ready for this place. Make sure to include any family members that you must make sure are ready. You have to start doing these tasks early. This of some of the tasks that you can do earlier in the day or even a night before. Pick out clothes, prepare snacks (on the dishes you are taking them in) get the car packed, anything that can be done should be done hours in advance to getting ready to leave. Make it part of a new habit/ritual. Tell yourself, that you are not going to be "that person who is always late" and for you, "I have to be early." Remember you don't have a choice, this is just something you have kidded yourself into believing. Being early is the only choice that is positive, being late is not a choice, it's a failure to do what society deems correct.

7

Start getting ready with extra time in advance. Keep looking at your clock that you set 15 minutes fast if you are looking at a clock to see how much time you have. On that clock you should be planning to leave with enough time to get where you are going plus a few minutes for extra problems. Time your driving trips, or use Google maps to give you a drive time, add a few minutes to be safe and leave with enough time to get there. While you are getting ready to leave don't do anything that can sidetrack you. Turn off the television, check anything that needs to be locked, feed your animals etc. BEFORE you are getting ready to go. Keep the things that you are taking with you all together in one place. This includes your keys and any bags or items you don't want to forget. If you have trouble with always feeling like you are forgetting something, jot down a short list of the things that you need to bring with you so u can check them before you start getting ready.

8

Go to your place that you have kept the things you need to take with you grab them and go. This should include directions, keys, phone, and anything really that you'll need wherever you are headed. You won't have to take time to check all the things that can normally cause you to be distracted and late, because you did them in advance. You won't have to run around looking for last minute items because they are all together.

9

Write down on a piece of paper or pad each place that you have to be on time. Make a happy face when you make it EARLY and a X when you did not. Each week add up the number of time that you did not make it to someplace early. If the number of times is reduced from the last week, reward yourself. Remember if your family is involved in this too it's important to reward them. Even if they don't know about it you can reward them and shape their behavior as well. If your wife or husband (or boyfriend/girlfriend) is being especially supportive think of what they like/want very much and do that thing. It will reinforce their actions also. Ask them to reinforce you if they notice you doing a great job of being early places, especially if they weren't happy with your tardiness in the past.

As you reduce the number of times you are not early places and practice doing things ahead of time, you will be shaping your behavior. Once you have reduced the number of times you are not early to 0 then remember to keep track still because the being late behavior will reoccur on occasion and you need to extinguish it any time it happens! Don't even let yourself be late one more time again, always be early!

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Once you get in the habit of doing this you'll realize that this is a much less stressful and better way to live. When you are not constantly sick to your stomach about the time, or driving hazardously to try to gain back time, or one of the many other horrible feeling effects of being late you will be glad that you took a little extra effort to re-shape your behavior.

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